Game over: Rockets get No. 50

I give T-Mac a lot of grief, but he brought it tonight, leading both teams with 35 points (26 in the second half) to carry the Rockets to a 95-86 victory at Portland.

Just as important as McGrady’s contributions were those of the Houston bench, which outscored Portland’s 29-12. The Rockets’ bench breakdown has Aaron Brooks with 12 points, Luther Head 11, Carl Landry four and Chuck Hayes two. For Portland, only Channing Frye hit the mark, scoring all 12 of the Blazers’ bench points.

The Rockets’ defense held Portland to 39.8-percent shooting (33 of 83), which will win you a lot of games in this league.

The bad news is that the Rockets had to go the distance to beat Portland, which is the first game of a back-to-back. The good news is that Friday’s game is at Seattle, which seems to spend extra time researching new ways to allow opponents to score.

12 Responses

I’m still trying to figure out how we got beat so badly on the boards. During the streak we were killing teams on the glass, but lately we haven’t been doing that. I really see a tired team right now, which is understandable. These guys expended a lot of energy during the streak, and they’ve really already made their bones for the regular season. I don’t care where they get seeded in the playoffs, but it would be nice to have home court. All the good teams coast a little at the end because they need to rest their stars. TMac needs rest, big time. I rather see him rested for the postseason than have home court.

Shame on me but I was beginning to think that the Rockets may not make the playoffs. The sad thing is it looks like they are doing just enough to get in. If they don’t get out of the first round is it even worth it to be in the playoffs?

“Furthermore, there are many players in the league who can drive to the basket without having the body of a PF. Baron Davis, Tony Parker, AI and many more…”

Baron Davis is one of the biggest guards in the league who is built like a tank. Even so, when you talk about Davis one of the first things that is said when talking about his teams is “IF he can stay healthy”. From ’02 to ’07 he played 50, 67, 46, 54, and 63 games out of 82! This will be the first year since ’02 that he has played in more then 67 games. And guess what… It’s a contract year!

Tony Parker gets in the lane but it isn’t what you are talking about when you say you want Mac driving to the basket. Parker gets in the lane many times in transition and other times its with floaters and flip shots like what Nash does. That isn’t comparable with what you are suggesting T-Mac do. Plus he is doing that against a defense that isn’t focusing on stopping him. They are usually cheating off him because the knock on him is his jump shot.

AI is the rare exception to the rule. Notice exception. There is no other player that is as relentless as AI when it comes to driving the lane. The only player that could even be mentioned in the conversation is Wade, which brings me to…

Colbster – “You forget something about Wade. He has a ring… And the fall of the Heat came with the fall of Shaq. Wade has injury problems, but his numbers are still high when he plays and so is his FG%. I would rather have him play effectively in 50 games rather than setting for jumpers in 80 games which will lead in first round playoff exits.”

I like Wade, I like his game, but don’t give me those lame excuses. Wade is injured BECAUSE of the way he plays. You can’t take one without the other. Wade is also only in his 4th season. If Wade is still doing this in his 10th season then he can be mentioned in the conversation with AI. T-Mac drove the lane just as much in the early years of his career. He used to throw the ball off the back board and dunk on people, and not just in the all star game.

What you don’t understand is that players have to make adjustments as the years go on. Jordan even stopped driving to the basket as much. He had to develop that turn around fade away that Kobe stole. Kobe has learned to pick his spots and doesn’t look to drive as much. I don’t know how old you are or how long you’ve watched the game, but Vince Carter used to be good for 10 highlights a game and now he is basically a jump shooter. You want T-Mac to play like a guy in the first 5 seasons of his career. It won’t happen. He has learned to pick his spots so he can play more games.

As for Wades ring. He was in the right situation at the right time. He played in a weak eastern conference with only one team worth mentioning as a contender (Pistons). He was at a point in his career that his body was still fresh and he was able to attack the basket. He managed to play for a GM that got feed up and was ready to win at all cost to the point that he would mortgage the future of his franchise for one ring. They geared up like there was no tomorrow with no regard for the cap and they won a ring.

Seriously if the Rockets were in the east that year they would’ve had just as good a shot at that ring as the Heat did.

Colbster – “PS. Marshall was never a shooter, and Gooden or Boozer had nothing to do with James driving to the basket. He has Jones and Gibson. We have Head, Brooks, Novak and we had Mike James. Do you think if Novak was in the lineup last night, tmac would have gone to the basket??”

How can you say Donyell Marshall isn’t a shooter? He is a career 35% 3pt shooter. That was his only reason for being on the team. Do you think they brought him there to be a post threat? To put it in perspective, Shane is considered a 3pt shooter playing the wing and he shoots 38%. Marshall is a big who shoots 35%. Novak is a career 39% 3pt shooter and you guys act like he is Larry Bird or something.

You say Gooden or Boozer had nothing to do with ‘Bron driving the lane… Let me break it down to you. Z is a shooter. Gooden is money in the 15-17′ range and so is Boozer. What this means is that you take your bigs away from the basket and there man has to stay with them and not clog the lane. That is what Scola does for the Rockets. But you put Chuck Hayes in the game with LeBron and you watch how crowded that lane gets.

So you ask if I think if Novak were in the game would T-Mac have gone to the basket. How do you think we beat the Kings in Houston. The defense collapsed on Mac and Novak was able to hit a wide open shot. Novak gets all this love for the shot, but the shot was a result of T-Mac making a play.

tmac almost dribbled the ball off his leg. then stumbling, he turned around and gave it to novak as an afterthought. dont pretend he had it all drawn up like that and the play was designed to not go into overtime.

according to marcus, when teams play the spurs their gameplan is to collapse all five defenders on tim duncan. now that is smart basketball.

tony parker does not drive the lane and scores simply because his defender is guarding duncan. ditto for the most overrated player in the game, ginobili. who cannot possibly be good because he does not start.

what planet are you from? do you even watch basketball? not in the last few years, i presume.